"Apparently we can learn to use magic here but it'll be a hell of a lot harder," Chandra said, "We'd have to draw from ourselves which is just as potentially dangerous."
"According to the book," Jace started. All of them knew exactly which book he was talking about. He'd been reading it for the past few days. "The energy we use up by using magic would be replenished every time we slept and with everything we eat."
"Well that's incredibly convenient," Lilianna muttered. Her eyes narrowed, "Maybe too easy."
"Maybe," Chandra shrugged, "But I doubt it'll be as easy as it sounds."
"It's hard," Jace muttered.
"You've already tried it?" Lilianna stared at him like he'd lost his mind.
"Why else would Cat Ears sleep anywhere that wasn't familiar to him?" Ral asked.
"Let's go home then. I'm not sure I'm going to try it," Lilianna shook her head, "Drawing energy from ourselves is incredibly risky when we're used to an external energy source."
Chandra shrugged. I already have a way around that but I doubt they'd agree to that. Especially Jace. He'll just put the work into learning a completely new form of using magic.
Jace was studying her curiously but followed Ral and Lilianna back to the house.
Chandra wandered the city without a real purpose. She watched people go about their daily business with dull disinterest. What they did didn't really have anything to do with her. She was hungry but didn't know what she wanted to eat. She knew what she didn't want to eat which wasn't exactly helpful. She didn't want to eat with Lilianna or Ral. Jace didn't eat much anyway so it didn't really matter. She sighed in frustration, "This sucks!"
"What sucks?"
Chandra whirled around and saw a somewhat familiar face that she didn't think she'd be seeing at all, "Nissa?"
"What?" The elf looked at her curiously suddenly, "How do you know my name?"
"Well...uh," Chandra sighed, "It's complicated. How'd you get here?"
"I ended up here when Zendikar was destroyed," Nissa shrugged. Chandra could tell she was deeply troubled and pained by the loss of the world but was trying to cover it up behind indifference, "Well...uh-Wait. Zendikar was destroyed?!"
"Yes," she sighed, "That is what I said isn't it?"
She sounds completely defeated. Chandra rolled her eyes, "So much for lunch. Well for now anyway." She grabbed Nissa's arm and led her back to the house they were staying at. She explained what she knew of the elf's situation to her companions and they agreed that she could stay with them if she wanted.
"Since I have nowhere else to go," Nissa sighed.
"Yay!" Chandra sighed, "Now I need lunch."
"You haven't eaten yet, Beautiful?"
"No," Chandra glared at him, "In case you hadn't noticed I was helping Nissa."
"You were out for a lot longer period of time than just helping Nissa would imply," Jace muttered, "so everyone's more than likely surprised that you didn't eat before you ran into her."
She glanced at him, "Thank you for that very eloquent and unnecessarily wordy explanation."
"Anytime," Jace said sarcastically.
"It's your birthday!" Ral grinned as he bounced the cushions on the couch in an effort to wake Jace up. Time has passed quickly though the planeswalkers had managed to better adjust to the time difference. The weeks has passed uneventfully. Uneventful was becoming the norm for everyday that passed as everyone settled in better.
Jace kicked at him, "Leave me alone! It's not important!"
"Never!" Ral took the giant stuffed tiger that was sitting on the floor and dropped it on Jace, "It is important."
"No it's not. Besides. It might not even be my real birthday. I wouldn't know," Jace growled. He pulled the blanket over his head and tried his best to ignore Ral.
"So? We decided that today is your birthday so we're going to celebrate it today," Ral insisted.
"You just want an excuse to celebrate," Jace muttered. He uncovered his head and glared at Ral, "If it's my birthday then let me sleep and leave me alone for the rest of the day! I don't care what you do but I'm going to do what I want."
"You spend everyday doing that though," Ral whined.
"Leave him alone," Lilianna insisted, "It's not just him you're annoying. Shut it."
"C'mon Princess, it's not really-"
"Didn't she say shut up?" Jace snapped. He sat up and looked around, "Is Chandra here? She's been out a lot lately."
"Are you worried?" Ral mocked.
"No. I'm curious," Jace snapped. He glared at the now older lightning mage, "She's been out almost constantly since Nissa arrived and started living with us." The elf was distant and not of much help. She had been here longer and was already adjusted to the time difference and the lack of mana. She spent a lot of her time alone thinking. Jace could never tell what she was thinking beyond vague impressions which irritated him.
Chandra walked in a few hours later, "Hey guys. What's up?"
"Nothing much Beautiful. It's Cat Ears' birthday today."
"Happy birthday," Chandra tossed a small box at him.
Jace caught it but fell backwards off the couch in doing so. He glared at her but said nothing. Curiosity demanded he open the box but he set it aside in favor of talking to her, "Where'd you go?"
"Out."
"I think he's wanting a more specific answer," Jace could tell that Lilianna's respect was incredibly sarcastic in nature.
"I went out," Chandra shrugged, "Obviously I got him something for his birthday."
"But you've been out a lot since Nissa showed up," Jace pointed out. Why is she dodging around the questions we're asking her? Can it be that she doesn't like this place anymore than I do? If she's looking for the pieces of the treasure on her own then...wait. Why is she doing it on her own if she's constantly trying to get the rest of us to rely on each other? His eyes narrowed. Okay. "I'm going to the library," he got to his feet, grabbed the box and left. He opened the box on his way down the street and looked at what was inside. It was a long silver chain with a small sapphire pendant. The pendant was a stylized flower shape but he couldn't identify what kind of flower.
"This," Eclipse held up a long silver chain with a sapphire flower pendant, "holds what power he cannot without going insane. If you truly are going to take on both elder dragons then he is going to need this power."
"Why would he go insane with this power?" Phoenix asked curiously.
"Because it's been separated from him for more loops than I have cared to count," Eclipse explained patiently. He set the necklace down and shoved it across the desk in her direction, "You know of Espers correct?"
"Yeah," Phoenix nodded. Her eyes suddenly widened, "He's Orriyon's original isn't he?!"
"Sort of. She was created from him and Vadanya," Eclipse said, "He is however Lucy's original."
"But that means that his spark was split into three pieces," Phoenix stared at the vampire in shock, "Can a planeswalker really survive that?"
"I didn't think so but apparently he had the power to spare."
Phoenix took the pendant and studied it. The gemstone glowed with an inner light. The light itself was a lighter shade of blue than the gemstone that gave it off. "Orriyon was telekinetic wasn't she? And she could see the future?"
"The ability to see the future is an ability Ugin granted to her," Eclipse said. He sat down in the chair across from the redhead, "Before Orriyon's and Lucy's creation the mind mage wasn't just able to play with other's minds. He was telekinetic. The two of you were almost essential to each side's victory. I would not be surprised if you had an esper or two as well. I do not know for certain but you are less powerful now than you were when you worked under Bolas and when you first switched sides. I would assume that you could regain that power from being in contact with whatever stores it. Give the necklace to Jace. He's going to need that power. I will warn you though. Keep an eye on him. If something causes great emotional stress the power might return to him all at once, basically replicating a spark ignition."
"But how? He's going to be suspicious if-"
"His 'birthday's' in a few weeks correct?" Eclipse interrupted her.
"Well...yeah."
"Then there you go."
Chandra stared at the ceiling unhappily, "And what if I do? That'd be kind of creepy honestly." She sighed and got up, "I'm going out."
"Where to?"
"I promised Shadow I'd help her at the hotel," Chandra closed the door behind her. I kind of understand Jace's frustration at those two though. And everyone else even. They aren't doing anything. Bet me Ral and Lilianna could live here indefinitely if they had to or if the had the option to. This world is so much easier than anywhere else in the multiverse. Lilianna could have everyone wrapped around her finger in half a second and Ral has access to all the technology he could want plus much, much more. She smirked, "But there's more to them than just their desires." Though I only trust Lilianna as far as I can throw her I won't deny that she is helpful. For as long as she needs us of course. And maybe afterwards to keep up the face. Chandra wandered into the hotel. She went up to Echo's lab and looked around, "Hey can I look into something really quick?"
"What do you need?" Echo asked. She looked her over, "Other than a nap. You can't yell at Jace for pushing his limits and then push yours even farther."
"I have been trying to sleep at least. I just can't seem to be able to do it," Chandra shrugged.
"Alright. Alright," Echo sighed, "What do you need?"
"Do you know what an Esper is?"
"It's a partial being created from a planeswalkers spark."
"Okay," Chandra nodded, "And do you have a way of tracing an Esper's abilities back to their original spark?"
"Not yet," Echo shook her head, "I haven't seen the need to."
Of course not. The only Esper she ever interacted with was Orriyon. "Okay. Can you locate whatever item holds the extra power that the Esper has?"
"Yeah," Echo nodded.
"Alright, then can you find every one you can and let me know?"
"Sure but...why the sudden interest?"
"Nothing," Chandra shook her head, "I just figured out that Orriyon was an Esper and I want to see something."
"Alright," Echo didn't sound like she believed her but Chandra didn't care. She hurried out of the hotel and back to the house that they all shared, "Jace's still gone?"
"It's his birthday and he isn't doing anything to celebrate!" Ral whined dramatically.
Chandra sighed, "He's never celebrated his birthday before. Why should he start now?"
Ral sat up, "Beautiful, what's wrong?" He studied her carefully.
"You're sour attitude is coming through loud and clear," Lilianna added before she could answer.
"I'm tired," Chandra said. It's not entirely a lie. I am tired. "We should hurry up though."
"You're starting to sound like Cat Ears," Ral noted.
Chandra smirked, "I just don't like not being able to burn you guys alive. It's not nearly as entertaining to just scream at you and hit you."
"That's cold!" Ral whined.
Lilianna remained silent and studied her. Great. Don't tell me she's starting to doubt herself. It's not like she had to come all the way out to this world just because the rest of us were. She doesn't think like that. Her eyes narrowed, "Does she?"
"What?" Ral looked at her.
"Nothing, dummy," Lilianna snapped.
"That's harsh Princess," Ral sighed, "I feel like I'm just here to be here and not being of any help."
"You aren't of any help but that's not necessarily your fault," Lilianna shrugged.
Ral looked at her, "You're just mean today."
"Sorry," Lilianna got to her feet and walked through the kitchen and up the stairs. There were four bedrooms on the top floor and two on ground level. She found Chandra in the room the two of them shared, "You aren't here just because the rest of us want to be are you?"
"No," Chandra shook her head.
"Then what's wrong with you?"
"I'm just tired. And none of us have the ability to use our mana as a 'back up energy source'. We're all still getting used to it."
"I would've expected you to be used to it by now," Lilianna sneered mockingly.
"Well sorry but I've never spent any sort of extended period of time here," Chandra snapped.
"Sorry," Lilianna leaned against the doorway and shrugged indifferently, "It's not like it's my fault that you're in a bad mood."
"You aren't helping either," Chandra smirked. At least I feel a little better picking on them. "O great Queen of Diamonds."
"Shut up, Bitch of Hearts," Lilianna snapped.
"Make me, Demon Queen."
"At least I'm still a queen," Lilianna lifted her nose into the air and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Yeah, of the sewage," Chandra snickered.
Lilianna glared at her, "It's better to be queen of sewage than not a queen at all."
"But I'm an angel," Chandra smirked. Ah, I feel better already. Of course you can't have a defective pawn now can you, Lilianna? She grinned, "See ya."
"What-Hey!" Lilianna whirled around as the redhead darted past her.
"I don't have anymore time to waste on you. We are here for a reason after all." Chandra winked and darted down the stairs. She slowed to a walk as she left the house.